Medicine Lodge Roadless Area

Hikes: D.
Total Distance, D: 7 miles.
Difficulty: Level II.
Season: June 25-October 15.
USGS Maps: Edie Creek, Fritz Peak.
Forest Service Map: Targhee N.F.
Dirt Road Miles: 12 gravel.
PLSS Location: Section 18, T13N R33E.

Introduction: Medicine Lodge Creek drains some of Idaho's finest country. The stunning topography, the result of intense glaciation, features U-shaped valleys in the mountains (such as the incomparable Webber Canyon, described in Maughan's Hiker's Guide to Idaho), terraced glacial outwash along the streams, and most of all the incredible southward dip in the Idaho-Montana (Continental) Divide north of Scott Peak.
  Medicine Lodge Creek doesn't just drain the Forest Service's Italian Peak RARE-II area at the base of the Beaverhead Range, it drains a little-known part of the Centennials: the Garfield Mountain RARE-II area. The BLM's Medicine Lodge Resource Management Plan established a "semi-primitive non-motorized" area on 5900 acres of excellent condition rangeland adjacent to Garfield Mountain. This south-exposure hike takes you there, giving you early season access to views of the unforgettable Red Conglomerate Mountains.

The Hike: Start hiking northeast up Nameless Creek's valley on one of many trails that soon converge into a way. You soon enter a green grassy area where the canyon bends to the left, and a distinct drainage is on your right. Start climbing the ridge to the left of the drainage, along a grassy area. You soon realize that this route is an old, faint way. It curves to the left, always climbing, until it reaches the ridge--and then it climbs some more.
  The entire way, you are simply walking uphill: no scrambling here, since you are mainly walking on gravel rubble from the geologic thrust events that made the Red Conglomerates so rugged. Watch for antelope, who seem to have no trouble with the thin air or the endless slopes.
  The author climbed as far as 8589 (D), a healthy 2100 feet above the trailhead. The Red Conglomerates are just across the street to the east; they will certainly inspire you to return to them some summer. Beyond them and in Montana you see barren Garfield Mountain--a solid 10,961 feet high. To the west you look over Bannack Pass. To the north, the route over 9511 and on to the Idaho-Montana divide appears no more difficult than your hike so far.
  The author took a different, harder route down from 8589. He descended to the level ridge just below and southsoutheast of 8589, and continued south until he met an old jeep road (W1). He followed it for about 1 1/4 miles, as long as he could see into Nameless Creek. At last (W2), the old road turns left and starts to descend to Irving Creek. Don't follow it: instead, bear to the right, and descend southwest on a broad ridge until you return to Nameless Creek and eventually your car.

Access: Drive on ID-22 for 6 miles west of I-15 Exit 167 (Dubois), and turn right (north) on the Medicine Lodge Road. Follow this paed road, which becomes good gravel. While driving through the canyon, watch for landslides along its sides. About 21 miles from ID-22, you pass the Webber Canyon road to the left, and then Edie on the right. After another 3 1/2 miles, the Irving Creek Road leads to the right; go left for a short mile, until a valley opens up on the right, and park. The author, for purposes of this book, has christened the valley Nameless Creek.